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"The waist measurement" vs. "The waist measuring"

Hello, Here is a high school mid-term test question.

Fill in the blank with two words.

Simply measuring your waist is probably useful. A number of studies have shown that this number helps measure the chances of developing chronic disease. It's also easy to do.
The __________________ can be helpful because many people find themselves changing their muscle to fat as they go through midlife. Even though weight may remain stable, an expanding waistline can be a warning sign of trouble on the horizon. So use your waist as a kind of measuring device. A waist-wise expansion of two or three inches over the years would mean that you should reevaluate your diet and physical activity level.

The exact answer is "waist measurement."
But some students wrote "waist measuring."
I think both of them are correct, but the teachers say no to the second answer. Is there any big difference between the two answers grammatically or semantically within the paragraph?

Re: "The waist measurement" vs. "The waist measuring"

Originally Posted by hellom1234

Hello, Here is a high school mid-term test question.

Fill in the blank with two words.

Simply measuring your waist is probably useful. A number of studies have shown that this number helps measure the chances of developing chronic disease. It's also easy to do.
The __________________ can be helpful because many people find themselves changing their muscle to fat as they go through midlife. Even though weight may remain stable, an expanding waistline can be a warning sign of trouble on the horizon. So use your waist as a kind of measuring device. A waist-wise expansion of two or three inches over the years would mean that you should reevaluate your diet and physical activity level.

The exact answer is "waist measurement."
But some students wrote "waist measuring."
I think both of them are correct, but the teachers say no to the second answer. Is there any big difference between the two answers grammatically or semantically within the paragraph?

Re: "The waist measurement" vs. "The waist measuring"

Thank you very much for the reply.
Could you give me some explanation, please?
I thought "measuring" is a gerund, which is using a verb as a noun. So I thought "measuring" is about the same with "measurement".

Re: "The waist measurement" vs. "The waist measuring"

I'm sorry to barge in...but please let me say a few words on this.
I fully understand hellom's confusion about the usage of 'gerunds.'
'Computer programming' comes from 'program a computer,' doesn't it?
So, hellom might have guessed 'measure (one's) waist' could be changed into 'waist measuring.'
The aim of this question could be...to see if the students correctly understand the noun for 'measure.'
I've often seen this kind of test question here in Japan, too. And I find it quite interesting.

Re: "The waist measurement" vs. "The waist measuring"

It's true that "computer programming" can be a compound noun but in this particular case it's not quite the same. Compound nouns can't be made out of all noun + gerund combinations.

In this context, you could change the words in the example and get:

The measurement around/of the waist can be helpful ... (if you want to use the noun "measurement" on its own)
Measuring the waist can be helpful ... (if you want to use the verb)
but "The waist measurement can be helpful" is the best choice.

It is trying to make it clear that of all the measurements that could be taken on your body (around your thighs, arms, calves, knees, hips) it is the measurement taken around your waist which is important when looking at the chance of developing chronic disease.

When turned into a question, it would be "What is your waist measurement?" "36 inches", not "What is your waist measuring?"